College Football Awards, Week 12 (2025) November 17, 2025
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Arch Manning, Arizona, Arkansas, Auburn, Bobby Petrino, Boston College, Buckeyes, Bulldogs, BYU, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, college football, David Braun, Florida, football, Gators, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Jake Dickert, Jeff Brohm, Kirby Smart, Longhorns, Louisville, LSU, Michigan, Mike Elko, Minnesota, NCAA, Nevada, New Mexico State, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, San Jose State, Shane Beamer, Sherrone Moore, Sooners, South Caroina, Southern Miss, Steve Sarkesian, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas State, UNLV, UTEP, Wake Forest, Western Kentucky
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COACHES
Wish I were him: Kirby Smart, Georgia
Glad I’m not him: Steve Sarkesian, Texas
Lucky guy: Mike Elko, Texas A&M
Also: Sherrone Moore, Michigan
Poor guy: Shane Beamer, South Carolina
Also: David Braun, Northwestern
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: N/A
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Jake Dickert, Wake Forest
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Jeff Brohm, Louisville
Desperately seeking … anything: Bobby Petrino, Arkansas
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Tennessee (defeated New Mexico State 42-9)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Georgia Tech (defeated Boston College 36-34)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Minnesota (lost to No. 8 Oregon 42-13)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: South Carolina (lost to No. 3 Texas A&M 31-30)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Nevada (defeated San Jose State 55-10)
Dang, they’re good: Georgia
Dang, they’re bad: San Jose State
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Alabama
Did the season start? Louisville
Can the season end? Arkansas
Can the season never end? Oklahoma
GAMES
Play this again: No. 11 Oklahoma 23, No. 4 Alabama 21
Play this again, too: No. 3 Texas A&M 31, South Carolina 30
Never play this again: Nevada 55, SJSU 10
What? Texas State 41, Southern Miss 14
Huh? Arizona 30, No. 25 Cincinnati 24
Are you kidding me??: Clemson 20, No. 20 Louisville 19
Oh – my – God: No. 11 Oklahoma 23, No. 4 Alabama 21
NEXT WEEK
rankings are current AP (week 13)
Ticket to die for: USC @ Oregon
Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four matchup: Western Kentucky @ LSU
Hon. mention: Coastal Carolina @ South Carolina
Best non-Power Four matchup: Missouri State @ Kennesaw State
Upset alert: Arkansas @ Texas
Must win: BYU @ Cincinnati
Offensive explosion: Hawaii @ UNLV
Defensive struggle: Minnesota @ Northwestern
Great game no one is talking about: Tennessee @ Florida
Also: Arizona @ Cincinnati
Intriguing coaching matchup: Rhett Lashlee of SMU vs Jeff Brohm of Louisville
Who’s bringing the body bags? Charlotte @ Georgia
Why are they playing? Samford @ Texas A&M
Plenty of good seats remaining: New Mexico State @ UTEP
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Mercer @ Auburn
Week 12 [Random] Thoughts:
After seeing the way Ohio State easily dispatched with UCLA and how Georgia dominated an improved Texas, it has become quite clear that, barring a massive development along the lines of a huge asteroid hitting the Earth causing another mass extinction, the Buckeyes and the Bulldogs are destined to duke it out for the national championship. Glad we got that cleared up and out of the way.
That being said, barring a similar development as described above, it seems increasingly likely that Ole Miss shall punch through a major barrier hitherto holding them back and make finally make the playoffs. They passed yet another test by beating the Gators. Granted, the casual observer might sniff “big deal, Florida’s not that good this year.” To which I may respond, granted in turn, but they’re also not that bad, and they took down Texas right before the Longhorns took down a then-hitherto juggernaut Sooner squad. But even then, let that not obfuscate a more salient point which is: since 2003, the two have played each other seven times. Despite the relatively massive successes of the Eli Manning years, the Hugh Freeze and now the Lane Kiffin eras, the Rebels were only 3-for-7 against the Gators. In that light, beating Florida is no small thing, and is further proof that Ole Miss not only controls their own destiny, but is in the unique position to do so ably, what with a bye next week before closing out the regular season with the Egg Bowl.
Back to the Texas-Georgia game. Even if the Longhorns win out (tall order, what with Texas A&M being the last game on their schedule), their playoff hopes are likely dashed after the beating they took Between the Hedges. Kirby Smart demonstrated he was a level above Steve Sarkesian in terms of coaching when, after scoring on the Longhorns, they then sucker-punched Texas with an on-side kick that they recovered. The message was clear: “forget about momentum and forget about your comeback. We won’t even let you have the ball again”.
Thus we are led to a rather painful conclusion: Sark is not the coach to lead the Horns to the promised land. He is a great offensive architect, but that has been both a blessing and a curse. The curse is that he has yet to decide if he is an offensive coordinator or a head coach first. This self-imposed quandary has led to him tying himself up at knots at times, seemingly straightjacketing Arch Manning in the process, while ignoring other details of overall team organization. Hence, Sark has earned the reputation of his team not being entirely “buttoned up”, and an obvious manifestation of that are the unnecessary penalties that plagued his team last night and in many games before then.
So, if Sark is not the coach to take Texas all the way, who is? That is the question we shall have to explore further in subsequent articles.
In the meantime, next week shall sadly be a let-down, in that the rest of the SEC has its body-bag fest before Rivalry Week. Alabama assumes the role of pitiless executioner to Eastern Illinois; Auburn to Mercer; Texas A&M to Samford; Charlotte to Georgia. Rather convenient, it is, that the SEC teams can have such a breather while the rest of the teams in FBS put in the work. At least LSU makes it somewhat interesting playing Western Kentucky (8-2 compared to the Tigers’ 6-4 record). That game could be all the more intriguing given LSU’s recent struggles and coaching avulsions.
Fortunately, this farcical aspect of SEC schedules ends soon. Starting next year, SEC teams shall play a 9-game conference schedule like everyone else, and thank heavens for that.
Meanwhile, some SEC teams got their requisite November body-bag games out of the way earlier, and shall thus have decent, if not great, matchups for us to enjoy after all, what with battered Texas playing reeling Arkansas, or, better yet, Florida playing Tennessee. Can the Volunteers avenge last years upset loss against the Gators? We’ll find out next week.
College Football Awards, Week 3 (2025) September 16, 2025
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Aggies, Arch Manning, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Army, Auburn, Bill Belichick, Bret Bielema, Central Michigan, Clark Lea, Clemson, college football, Commodores, Curt Cignetti, DeShaun Foster, Florida State, Fresno State, Gamecocks, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa State, Jacksonville State, Josh Heupel, Kent State, Kirby Smart, Longhorns, Marcus Freeman, Marshall, Maryland, Memphis, Michigan, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee, Mike Elko, Missouri, NCAA, NCAA football, North Carolina, North Texas, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Scott Frost, Shane Beamer, South Carolina, Steve Sarkesian, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UCF, UCLA, USC, Utah, UTEP, Vanderbilt, Washington State, Wisconsin, Yellow Jackets
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COACHES
Wish I were him: Kirby Smart, Georgia
Glad I’m not him: Josh Heupel, Tennessee
Lucky guy: Mike Elko, Texas A&M
Poor guy: Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Steve Sarkesian, Texas
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Clark Lea, Vanderbilt
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Shane Beamer, South Carolina
Desperately seeking … anything: DeShaun Foster, UCLA
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Indiana (defeated Indiana State 73-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Texas (defeated UTEP 27-10)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Central Michigan (lost to No. 23 Michigan 63-3)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Arkansas State (lost to No. 14 Iowa State 24-16)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: North Texas (defeated Washington State 59-10)
Dang, they’re good: Georgia
Dang, they’re bad: Washington State
Can’t Stand Prosperity: South Carolina
Did the season start? Clemson
Can the season end? UCLA
Can the season never end? Texas A&M
GAMES
Play this again: No. 6 Georgia 44, No. 15 Tennessee 41, OT
Play this again, too: No. 16 Texas A&M 41, No. 8 Notre Dame 40
Never play this again: No. 22 Indiana 73, Indiana State 0
Huh? No. 16 Texas A&M 41, No. 8 Notre Dame 40
Are you kidding me?? Georgia Tech 24, No. 12 Clemson 21
Oh – my – God: Vanderbilt 31, No. 11 South Carolina 7
NEXT WEEK
rankings are current AP (week 4)
Ticket to die for: No. 9 Illinois @ No. 19 Indiana
Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four matchup: Arkansas @ Memphis
Best non-Power Four matchup: Fresno State @ Hawaii
Upset alert: South Carolina @ No. 23 Missouri
Must win: No. 22 Auburn @ No. 11 Oklahoma
Offensive explosion: No. 17 Texas Tech @ No. 16 Utah
Defensive struggle: Maryland @ Wisconsin
Great game no one is talking about: Michigan State @ No. 25 USC
Intriguing coaching matchup: Curt Cignetti of Indiana vs Brett Bielema of Illinois
Honorable mention: Scott Frost of UCF vs Bill Belichick of North Carolina
Who’s bringing the body bags? North Texas @ Army
Why are they playing? Kent State @ No. 7 Florida State
Plenty of good seats remaining: Marshall @ Middle Tennessee
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Murray State @ Jacksonville State
Week 3 Thoughts:
We the fans enjoyed two incredible games this week, one was during the 3:30 EDT timeslot in Knoxville, between Georgia and Tennessee. The other was in the evening, in South Bend, as a rematch between Texas A&M and Notre Dame. Both we close games that went down to the wire.
For the former, Tennessee had the chance to bring home the win, but made too many mistakes, and in the end, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
For the latter, fewer mistakes on both sides of the ball were made, and was arguably an even more epic game. The ‘so-what’ outcome is that Mike Elko & Co. finally have a signature win, establishing the Aggies as a force to be reckoned with in their division of the SEC.
Random Thoughts:
Either Vanderbilt is that good or South Carolina decided to take a night off in their own home stadium. Making sense of such a drubbing on one’s own home turf shall take time in the form of seeing more games from the Commodores to find out if embarrassing the Gamecocks was some fluke or if they are the real deal.
Should the Longhorn faithful become increasingly concerned? Probably. For the second week in a row in what should have been a cakewalk for Texas, the home team scored only 27 points against lowly, lowly UTEP. QB Arch Manning remains off-rhythm, still missing easy passes. What on Earth is going on in Austin? They have one last game to get it together (against Sam Houston State) before things start to get real with conference play.
Was Clemson overrated all this time, or has Georgia Tech been underrated for the same duration? Regardless, the Yellow Jackets winning on a last-second field goal provided yet another thrilling finish to contribute to a great day for the game of college football. The completed FG made me want to jump up like Homer Simpson (in Season 1 of the long-enduring sitcom), exclaiming “It’s good! It’s good!”
College Football Awards, Week 1 (2025) September 2, 2025
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: Alabama, Arch Manning, Army, Bill Belichick, Boise State, Brent Key, BYU, Chris Klieman, Clemson, college football, College Gameday, Colorado, Deion Sanders, ESPN, Florida International, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, James Madison, Jeff Monken, Kalen DeBoer, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Lee Corso, Longhorns, Louisville, LSU, Marshall, Matt Patricia, Miami (FL), Miami (OH), Michigan, Mike Norvell, Missouri, NCAA, North Carolina, North Texas, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Rutgers, Ryan Day, San Jose State, South Carolina, Steve Sarkesian, Syracuse, TCU, Temple, Texas, Toledo, UConn, UMass, Virginia Tech, Western Michigan
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COACHES
Wish I were him: Ryan Day, Ohio State
Glad I’m not him: Steve Sarkesian, Texas
Lucky guy: Brent Key, Georgia Tech
Poor guy: Deion Sanders, Colorado
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Chris Klieman, Kansas State
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Mike Norvell, Florida State
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Jeff Monken, Army
Desperately seeking … anything: Kalen DeBoer, Alabama
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Illinois (defeated Western Illinois 52-3)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Kansas State (defeated North Dakota 38-35)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Marshall (lost to No. 5 Georgia 45-7)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: Toledo (lost to Kentucky 24-16)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Temple (defeated UMass 42-10)
Dang, they’re good: Ohio State
Dang, they’re bad: UMass
Can’t Stand Prosperity: N/A
Did the season start? Kansas State
Can the season end? Army
Can the season never end? Florida State
GAMES
Play this again: No. 3 Ohio State 14, No. 1 Texas 7
Play this again, too: No. 9 LSU 17, No. 4 Clemson 10
Never play this again: BYU 69, Portland State 0
What? No. 3 Ohio State 14, No. 1 Texas 7
Huh? No. 9 LSU 17, No. 4 Clemson 10
Are you kidding me?? Florida State 31, No. 8 Alabama 17
Oh – my – God: Tarleton State 30, Army 27 (2OT)
NEXT WEEK
rankings are current AP (week 2)
Ticket to die for: Michigan @ Oklahoma
Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four matchup: James Madison @ Louisville
Best non-Power Four matchup: North Texas @ Western Michigan
Upset alert: UConn @ Syracuse
Must win: UCLA @ UNLV
Offensive explosion: Kansas @ Missouri
Defensive struggle: Miami (OH) @ Rutgers
Great game no one is talking about: Iowa @ No. 22 Iowa State
Intriguing coaching matchup: Frank Reich of Stanford vs Kalane Sitake of BYU
Who’s bringing the body bags? San Jose State @ Texas
Why are they playing? Florida International @ Penn State
Plenty of good seats remaining: Bryant @ UMass
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? Eastern Washington @ Boise State
Week 1 Thoughts:
The 2025-’26 college football season has launched for real, and a few good games have helped the season launch more than respectfully. Indeed, in one of the greatest opening games in living memory, No. 1 Texas came to Columbus to play No. 3 (and defending national champ) Ohio State. Adding even more drama and poignancy to this already-historic matchup was the fact that this was legendary ESPN football commentator Lee Corso’s last appearance on the network’s College Gameday show. In a very classy farewell gesture, Corso, 90, wore a tuxedo for his farewell appearance. The Ohio State band formed the letters “CORSO” on the field right before kickoff, and he was joined by the Gameday crew a the 50 yard line of Ohio Stadium to deliver his final “headgear” stunt. Appropriately, he donned the Brutus Buckeye head. How could he not? Twenty-nine years ago, his first ever big-game outcome prognostication vis-à-vis donning the team’s mascot head was born at Ohio State, where he likewise put on Brutus’ head. It was more than fitting that he bookended his legendary body of work at ESPN by doing the same thing, in fitting tribute to the place where the cherished tradition began.
The game itself was incredible, with huge defensive plays abounding throughout the game. Ryan Day’s overall strategy of bringing in Matt Patricia from the NFL paid off handsomely. Patricia used his vast NFL experience to call up defensive schemes to make inexperienced Texas QB Arch Manning uncomfortable, and it showed in the Longhorns’ lack of offensive output throughout all but the last drive of the game. Still, Manning managed to exploit the occasional crack in the Buckeyes’ defense, and Texas was thus one pass completion away from taking the game into overtime.
In a larger sense, this loss on the part of the Longhorns shall not tank their season. Should Texas effectively regroup and make the playoffs come season’s end, surely their path shall cross that of Ohio State yet again. Should they do so, it is almost always impossible to beat the same formidable opponent again in the same season, as the Buckeyes demonstrated with devasting effectiveness against Oregon in the most recent Rose Bowl.
The Broader Line-up of Games
In what might become an annual tradition for the first week of college football awards each season, it is worth noting the many poor matchups among a few really great games. Once again, most of the matchups scream “[W]hy are they playing?” To wit (final scores indicated in parentheses):
Louisville vs EKU (51-17); Arizona State vs Northern Arizona (38-19); SMU vs East Texas A&M (42-13); BYU vs Portland State (69-0); Tulsa vs Abilene Christian (35-7); North Texas vs Lamar (51-0); Ole Miss vs Georgia State (63-7); Texas Tech vs Arkansas Pine Bluff (67-7); USC vs Missouri State (73-13); Florida vs Long Island University (55-0); Arkansas St. vs SE Missouri State (42-24); W. Kentucky vs North Alabama (55-6); Oklahoma vs Illinois State (35-3); Iowa vs Albany (34-7); James Madison vs Weber State (45-10); Memphis vs Chattanooga (45-10); Arkansas vs Alabama A&M (52-7); Oregon vs Montana State (59-13); Penn State vs. Nevada (46-11); Georgia vs Marshall (45-7); Iowa State vs South Dakota (55-7); Air Force vs Buckness (49-13); Boston College vs Fordham (66-10); West Virgina vs Robert Morris (45-3); UConn vs Central Conn. St. (59-13); Pittsburgh vs Duquense (61-9); Navy vs VMI (52-7); Illinois vs Western Illinois (52-3); Kansas vs Wagner (46-7); Florida International vs Bethune-Cookman (42-9); SDSU vs Stony Brook (42-0); Houston vs Stephen F. Austin (27-0); Missouri vs Central Arkansas (61-6); Oklahoma State vs Tennessee-Martin (27-7); Duke vs Elon (45-17)
I would add other games as well to the above litany, except that the intended punching bags managed to make the games somewhat respectable, such as Indiana vs Old Dominion (27-14); Wisconsin vs Miami (OH) (17-0); Minnesota vs Buffalo (23-10); Wyoming vs Akron (10-0); UNLV vs Idaho State (38-31); Kentucky vs Toledo (24-16) and Michigan vs New Mexico (34-17). The joke was truly on Army, who lost to lowly Tarleton State in the second overtime, 30-27.
As far as college football has evolved (e.g., the new playoff format), further evolution is clearly in order. To be sure, these absolutely atrocious lineups are likely a holdover of the recent time when one loss could potentially tank a team’s entire season. That is no longer the case, however, so going forward, it is not unreasonable for us fans to expect more marquee matchups such as the aforementioned Texas vs Ohio State, or Virginia Tech vs South Carolina, or Alabama @ Florida State, or Miami (FL) vs Notre Dame, and especially LSU @ Clemson, a memorable game in its own right. Likewise with Notre Dame @ Miami (Fla.), which turned out to be another fantastic game. More of these top-ten matchups, please! Moreover, Monday night matchup of TCU @ North Carolina, which happens to also be Bill Belichick’s college coaching debut, holds much promise as well.
Just do not expect to see such needed evolution take place next week, which shall deliver too many “why are they playing?” matchups as well.
College Football Awards, Week 14 (2024) December 3, 2024
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.Tags: ACC, Aggies, Alabama, Arch Manning, Arizona State, Army, B1G, Big XII, Boise State, Buckeyes, Buffalo, CHip Kelly, Clemson, college football, Colorado, Dan Lanning, Florida State, football, Fran Brown, Gamecocks, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Jacksonville State, James Franklin, Kent State, Kirk Ferentz, Longhorns, Louisville, Mario Cristobal, Matt Rhule, Memphis, Miami (FL), Miami (OH), Michigan, Mike Elko, Mustangs, NCAA, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Quinn Ewers, Ryan Day, Ryan Walters, Sherrone Moore, SMU, South Carolina, Steve Sarkesian, Syracuse, Texas, Texas A&M, Tigers, Tulane, UNLV, USC, Western Kentucky
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COACHES
Wish I were him: Steve Sarkesian, Texas
Honorable mention: Sherrone Moore, Michigan
Glad I’m not him: Mike Elko, Texas A&M
Lucky guy: Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Poor guy: Matt Rhule, Nebraska
Desperately seeking a wake-up call: Mario Cristobal, Miami (FL)
Desperately seeking a P.R. man: Fran Brown, Syracuse
Desperately seeking sunglasses and a fake beard: Ryan Day, Ohio State
Desperately seeking … anything: Ryan Walters, Purdue
TEAMS
Thought you’d kick butt, you did: Indiana (defeated Purdue 66-0)
Thought you’d kick butt, you didn’t: Georgia (defeated Georgia Tech 44-42)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you did: Kent State (lost to Buffalo 43-7)
Thought you’d get your butt kicked, you didn’t: USC (lost to No. 5 Notre Dame 49-35)
Thought you wouldn’t kick butt, you did: Colorado (defeated Oklahoma State 59-0)
Dang, they’re good: Oregon
Dang, they’re bad: Purdue
Can’t Stand Prosperity: Ohio State
Did the season start? Miami (FL)
Can the season end? Florida State
Can the season never end? Indiana
GAMES
Play this again: Michigan 13, No. 2 Ohio State 10
Play this again, too (told you so): Iowa 13, Nebraska 10
Never play this again: Indiana 66, Purdue 0
What? Memphis 34, No. 17 Tulane 24
Huh? No. 15 South Carolina 17, No. 12 Clemson 14
Are you kidding me?? Syracuse 42, No. 6 Miami 35
Oh – my – God: Michigan 13, No. 2 Ohio State 10
NEXT WEEK
(rankings are current AP (week 15)
Ticket to die for: No. 2 Texas @ No. 5 Georgia in the SEC championship game
Honorable mention: No. 1 Oregon vs No. 4 Penn State in the B1G championship game
Best non-Power Four vs. Power Four matchup: (none)
Best non-Power Four matchup: No. 17 Tulane @ Army
Upset alert: No. 12 Clemson vs No. 9 SMU in the ACC Championship game
Must win: All championship games, but especially the No. 16 Arizona State vs No. 18 Iowa State in the Big XII championship game
Offensive explosion: No. 22 UNLV vs. No. 11 Boise State
Defensive struggle: Ohio vs Miami (OH)
Great game no one is talking about: Western Kentucky @ Jacksonville State
Intriguing coaching matchup: Dan Lanning of Oregon vs James Franklin of Penn State
Who’s bringing the body bags? N/A
Why are they playing? N/A
Plenty of good seats remaining: N/A
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? N/A
Week 14 Thoughts:
Let us confront the 800-lb. gorilla in the room. It was all set for Ohio State. All they had to do was win the game. But the game turned out to be “The Game”, and in “The Game”, the Buckeyes choked massively. QB Will Howard failed to seek out his marquee weapons. The receivers dropped key passes.
While we can lay this massive failure at the feet of the offense, perhaps we should be more specific and lay the failure at the feet of Ryan Day and the offensive tactics he chose by wanting to prove how tough his team was by winning “tough”, that is, winning by battling out in the trenches running the ball between the tackles. That’s all well and good, but when your strengths are at the perimeters, not on the line (remember, Ohio State was working with a patchwork line-up on the o-line due to injuries), then the smart play is to play to those strengths.
This tactical failure on the part of Day is all the more stark when one considers that while Ohio State has an unbeatable receiving corps, Michigan was “patchwork” in the secondary. Such is the magnitude of the missed opportunity. My lingering question is, to what extent did Chip Kelly influence the offensive tactics for this game?
No more B1G championship berth for Ohio State: that now goes to Penn State instead. At least they have retained a No. 7 ranking in the polls, which should, in all likelihood, help them clinch a spot in the playoffs anyhow. But this loss will smart, especially since Ryan Day is now 1-4 against their hated rival, “that school up north”. One takeaway is that Day’s tenure in Columbus just became much more tenuous. He can consult John Cooper on the “why”.
Elsewhere, Miami (FL) had a golden opportunity to make it to the ACC championship and clinch a spot in the playoffs. All they had to do was beat Syracuse, but then they blew a three-TD lead to Syracuse in the second half. Now, not only are the Hurricanes out of the ACC championship, their potential bid for the playoffs is very much in doubt. Funny how one game can do that, but this reminds us that November is for everything.
One team that did rise to the occasion, barely, was Texas. The Longhorns and the Aggies renewed their rivalry on Saturday, playing for the first time since 2011. The Horns were ranked No. 3, but the Aggies were also ranked and No. 20. Sounds like advantage, Longhorns…except that the game was at nighttime in Kyle Field, a bona fide hostile place to play. Nevertheless, despite some hiccups on offense (Ewers threw a pick-six, for example), Texas still prevailed, 17-7. Were it not for the pick-six, the game could have ended 24-0 or better in Texas’ favor. Give the game ball to the Longhorns’ D for shutting down A&M’s offense. Meanwhile, Sark has work to do on offense when they take on Georgia in Atlanta for all the marbles in the conference. To that end, is Ewers dealing with a more serious injury than we are led on to believe? If so, Sark would be well-served to deploy Manning at the drop of a hat in Atlanta next week.
One interesting development is that South Carolina defeated in-state rival Clemson in Death Valley (no small feat), but since the Tigers’ loss was not in-conference, they still get to play SMU for the ACC championship. Looks like that loss to Louisville earlier in the season did not mortally wound their chances for the playoffs after all. But how might they fare against the Mustangs? The potentially lone ACC representative hangs in the balance of that game’s outcome.
Same goes for Iowa State playing Arizona State for the Big XII title, unless the playoff committee chooses Colorado to be within the bubble for a playoff bid. Speaking of the Buffaloes, they certainly make a strong case to be considered by crushing Oklahoma State 52-0.
Two teams that quietly get things done: Notre Dame and Boise State. We can debate about strength of schedule for these two teams, especially that of the latter, but in the beauty contest that is college football, the pollsters and the playoff committee alike seem to like what the Broncos are selling. Perhaps we will all need a dose of truth serum should Boise State make the playoffs and get embarrassed in the first round. Tuesday’s latest round of revised rankings will give us a better idea of where these teams stand regardless.
Both Alabama and South Carolina are on the bubble for a playoff berth. Should the Gamecocks be favored over the Tide? It’s a fair question when one considers that Alabama laid an egg to a sub-par Oklahoma team, while South Carolina beat their ranked, hated rival on said rival’s home turf, no less. Clearly the better momentum is with the ‘Cocks. Will the playoff committee consider these as they release their updated rankings come Dec. 3?
intellectualgridiron 